About four months ago, a brief notice in the West Palm Beach, Florida, newspapers noted the passing of Betty L. Prentis. She was 89. She was mostly known as the widow of Edmund “Ned” Prentis III. The two were fond of big game hunting, fishing and “world class croquet” according to one report (he died in 1997). Close friends noted that Betty had a career as a dancer before she married.
She did indeed.
Prentis, in her show biz days, performed on Broadway and television. And in 1956, in one of her final performances, Luster was hired to play the title character in a promotional film sponsored by the musical instrument manufacturer C. G. Conn. Thirty-five years later, that performance was discovered by the creators “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” and the legend of Mr. B. Natural was born.
Born in 1922, Betty Luster grew up in New Jersey where, in 1937, she won a local beauty contest. That success apparently brought her to London, where she spent several years as a showgirl with the Dorchester Hale dance troupe. In 1939 she appeared in an early television broadcast on the fledgling BBC Television.
By 1940 she was back in the U.S., dancing in the Broadway production of Irving Berlin’s “Louisiana Purchase.” She was a showgirl in Miami Beach in the mid 1940s, and later appeared in an opera.
Luster served as co-hostess of the 1950 CBS game show “Sing It Again,” a progenitor to “Name That Tune,” where contestants would attempt to identify songs from just a few notes. She also appeared on the short-lived NBC variety show “Seven at Eleven.” In 1955 she was back on Broadway in “The Wayward Saint,” which closed after a few weeks.
Luster was a successful TV station programming consultant for several years until she met and married Prentis, when she retired.
Thanks to commenter “Creeping Terror,” who alerted us that Betty passed away May 25th of this year.